September 24, 2025 • 14 mins
Kevin Pritchard, President of Basketball Operations for the Indiana Pacers, rounds out the second hour of the show by discussing the impact Nancy Leonard had on him, shares what he remembers watching the telethon, the joy that Nancy Leonard had with the team no matter if they were winning or losing, and reacts to a suggestion on what number should be associated with here in the rafters.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I will begin by saying what I have been saying
throughout the course of today, and that is that, as
somebody who grew up in this town, I have such
a pride for the teams in this city, and in
addition to that, the way that this city has embraced
sports and really built its identity around sports. And it
(00:21):
is my belief that perhaps the strongest pillar in all
of that was Nancy Leonard. And without Nancy Leonard and
her vision for the Pacers, her vision for being able
to cement them within the NBA coming from the ABA,
I don't know that you get expansion of the Convention
Center and the building of the Hoosier Dome and eventually
an NFL franchise and all of the things that we
(00:43):
now enjoy. And it is a sad day, but the
day that we celebrate Nancy Leonard here in Indianapolis, and
joining me now on the program he is the president
of basketball Operations for the Indiana Pacers. Kevin Pritchard joining us,
Kevin on what I know is again a sad day,
but at the same time a celebratory day. I appreciate
your time in being able to reflect on Nancy Leonard.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Well glad to be on Jake, and congratulations to you
and your success. And you know, coming from Indianapolis and
growing up in Lawrence and Noblesville, I remember going to
a fifth grade basketball camp with the Pacers and meeting
Nancy and Slick at that time, and they were just
(01:29):
they were bigger than life. And you know, if you
met him, you'd think that you were their best friends.
And you know, throughout my tenure, I've been very blessed
to work with Donnie Walsh and Larry Bird and like
the foundational piece that they're about is people first. And
(01:51):
you know, I'm getting a little sad talking about it
because it's such a blow to not just the Pacers organization,
but what the Leonard's and specifically Nancy has done for
this community. It can't be measured, you just, uh statistically,
(02:14):
can you hear me?
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Yeah? Sorry about that, Go ahead, Kevin.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
She just she just was a pillar of this community.
And the one thing you knew about Nancy is there's
nothing more. And she didn't have any more pride than
the Pacers, and it was because she was the original.
She was the o g general manager and you know,
we hired Kelly Cross Golf as one of the you know,
(02:40):
top females in the business a few years ago to
be an executive for the Pacers. But the original was Nancy.
And uh, it's a really, really sad day. I'm proud
on one thing, and that is, you know, she came
to some playoff games this year and I would see
(03:02):
her after a big home win and it just you
could tell there was just this amount of pride that
can't be described in words. And I wish we could
have won a championship, because today I could have said
that she would have won a championship, you know, another
championship for the organization. So it's a tough loss. It's
(03:25):
a really tough loss.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
You know, Kevin, I was thinking about this in life
in general, and no matter what realm or relationship you
have with people, oftentimes you know you look back, whether
it be they they're passing, or you know, you go
to another job, whatever it may be, there are always
times where you look back and you think I should
have said this, or I wish I'd done that. You know,
that kind of a thing for you personally and for
(03:50):
the organization. What is the element of pride or can
you speak to it? In knowing that you are right.
I mean, it was a half away from a title,
I get that, But yet it was such an incredible
run of joy in Euphoria and this town that cemented
again the relationship between this town and that organization and
(04:10):
professional basketball in the Indiana Pacers and Nancy Leonard being
able to hug Myles Turner, to hug Tyre's Halliburton, to
soak in and see the fruits of her labor before
her almost feels like it was this town's way of
saying thank you, job well done. What does it mean
for you to know that you were somebody who helped
facilitate that and be able to have her enjoy that.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Well, I can tell you this that I do remember
hugging her after some playoff games, and you know, you see,
you can just you know, you can see when somebody's
all in right, Like there's people that are fans, are
people that come to the games. But she was the
queen of the Pacers, and you know, you always, you
(05:01):
always felt their presence, no matter whether she was at
the game or not. She would always walk by the
management room and say hello. And you know I remember
many times seeing her, you know, throughout the community at
a golf event or or you know, any any out
to dinner and I was keavy, you know, I wasn't
(05:24):
you know, mister Pritchard or anything like that. I was
heavy to her. And you know, they had a great
feel of making you feel like you were part of
their family. And I think I think that trickles down
today to the Pacers. And you know, again, I'm not
sure you could measure that. That's immeasurable in terms of
(05:46):
influence and love and caring. And it wasn't a team,
it wasn't an organization. It was a family to her.
And you know, as I'm reflecting back, I hope and
ways that I can do that and make people around
us and in the organization and our fan base know that, yeah,
(06:07):
we want to win as much, but when we do
this together, we win together and we lose together. And
I think that's what I felt, because during tough times
she was the same way as she was during a
championship run. So I think that's that's the one thing
that I will remember about her, is no matter what,
I was part of her.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Family, Kevin. When you look back, Kevin Pritchard is our
guest from the Pacers we're remembering Nancy Leonard today. The
partnership I mean, obviously, as I've talked about with others
today goes without saying the incredible bond of love between
Nancy and Slick Leonard. And you know you could see
that immediately. But also, you know, going back to the
telethon the partnership that the two of them had, and
(06:51):
her ability, her business acumen, her vision for the franchise,
all of those things. Did you witness firsthand or can
you illuminate us on something you might have seen in
terms of the influence on a day to day that
she had on Slick Leonard?
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Well, I think you know, how do I say this politely?
Flick had a lot of passion, and sometimes when you
have that passion, sometimes you need to have someone right
next to your side saying it's going to be okay,
We're going to figure this out. And the other thing
I would tell you about Nancy is, you know, I
(07:31):
just there was no way she was going to accept no.
I mean, she she had a way of, you know,
being influential in a very positive way. But the last
thing I ever felt like I could do is say
no to her, and she did it in a way
that was her own way, with her own words and
her own feel and her own touch, and that's a
(07:54):
special touch. But her and Slick were you know, I
don't know if you could talk about Slick without talking
about Nancy. It's just they were the Leonards. They were
the king and Queen of the Pacers, and you know
that's that's immeasurable.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Again, had you not grown up here, Kevin and been
around at what you did, I mean obviously as you
mentioned at the outset, but if you had come here
from an organization where you didn't have ties to Indiana
other than taking the job here, would you have immediately
known of the impact of the Leonards. Was it the
kind of thing that's introduced to people when they come
(08:30):
here or do you just kind of see it from
the immediacy?
Speaker 2 (08:35):
No, I think you know, any any official events, whether
it's a banquet or a meeting, or you know where
they were involved, you knew the Leonards like you know,
I lived here until I was twelve or thirteen, and
then I moved away and then I came back and
immediately the first thing I do is, you know, communicate
(08:58):
with the Leonards and touch base with those would both
slick in Nancy, but I always just felt like they
were my family, and they may be part of the
family whether I was, you know, five thousand miles away
or a mile away. They just they embodied what the
Pacers are today and what they were back then. And
(09:22):
I remember specifically the telethon, and you know, I was
a really young boy when that happened, but you know,
I grew up knowing who the Pacers were, who was
the face of the franchise for many years and still are.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
You know, Chris texted in a listener Kevin and pointed
this out. I thought it was a fabulous idea. If
Nancy Leonard's name goes up in the rafters, which you know, Tyre's.
Haliburton even mentioned that he'd love to see it. I
realized that that's above both of us for that matter,
but in terms of those decisions. But each person that's
in the rafters, excluding Melsa I'm and Jim Morris, you know,
(10:02):
there's a number attached to them in some way, and
Slicks case, it's the number of career wins. I think
it should say Nancy Leonard eighty twenty eight because that's
the number of season tickets that were needed from the telethon,
and that's the number. She was so joyous in being
able to announce that essentially, quote unquote saved the Pacers. Now,
I give that a thumbs up, idea your thoughts.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
I completely agree thumbs up, And I wasn't aware of
that exact number, but god, that back then. You know,
it seems like a low number today, but when you
were growing up, that was monumental and just saved the Pacers.
And like you said earlier heard in the segment, you know,
(10:43):
the Pacers led to the Convention Center and the Colts
and then you know it just it's snowballed into this
incredible sports town. And whether you go anywhere in the
United States, the first thing people say, well, Indianapolis is
an incredible sportstown. And I think we all from Indiana,
(11:04):
we take a lot of you know, I remember back
when the NCAA tournament was going to be canceled and
Indianapolis popped up and said, hey, we will host all
these basketball games for the NCAA tournament. And then everybody
was like, holy cow, what an incredible job Indianapolis did.
And you think about that, that doesn't happen if the
Pacers aren't here, and if that, if the Pacers are here,
(11:27):
and again how that transcended into other things, There'd be
no way the NCAAA is here. There'd be no way
that tournament could have gotten played in Indianapolis. So it
was a snowball effect, and I think it still grows.
And for me, as a steward of a team in
this town, alls we want to do is keep it
(11:49):
going and keep it Indianapolis great, an amazing place where
sports not only as important, it's part of our culture.
So I hope in some way that we can be
good stewards of that helmet that she created.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Lastly, Kevin, when it comes to Nancy Leonard, I'm curious
of this when you come in and you know you're
in that position and you are the president of basketball
operations and you have a woman sitting there near you
at the games that was one of the original, the
original as you mentioned, you know, pioneer executives of the franchise.
(12:32):
Did she carry with her a confidence or exude any
sort of a belief of her knowing her own standing
or was there an elegance about it where you just
kind of knew it and she didn't have to say it.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Oh, I think that's a difficult question because she had
an amazing elegance. I just I just think that the
Lennard's presence was always felt. And you know, you couldn't
remove the Pacers and the Leonards. It just it goes
(13:09):
in the same sentence. It's attached and it's it's meaningful.
But when when when I would hug her, it wasn't like, oh, hi,
you know, a little side hugged. When you hugged Flick
and Nancy, it was an embrace and it was meaningful.
And they just had a way of touching everybody, you know,
(13:34):
like again calling me Kevy, and you know they did
that with a lot of people. But for some reason,
it just made you feel like you were home. And
that's irreplaceable. You don't feel the fill those shoes.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Ever, Kevin. Obviously you know on this program the season
is getting ready to get underway. There was a transaction
that took place yesterday that was announced in adding a
point guard in Monti Morris. There are a lot of
things in that aspect. I could ask you about it.
Probably in the eyes of many would be remissive me
to not do so. However, when I asked you to
(14:10):
come on the program today, it was under the guise
of being able to talk about and reflect upon and
celebrate the life of Nancy Leonard, and I think in
the integrity of that, I keep it to that, and
certainly would welcome it back on another time from a
basketball standpoint, but I appreciate the perspectives today.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yep, glad to do it and keep up the great work.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Jay, appreciate it. Kevin Pritcher joining us, the president of
basketball Operations for the Indiana Pacers, as we celebrate today
the life of Nancy Leonard at the age of ninety
three years old.
I will begin by saying what I have been saying
throughout the course of today, and that is that, as
somebody who grew up in this town, I have such
a pride for the teams in this city, and in
addition to that, the way that this city has embraced
sports and really built its identity around sports. And it
(00:21):
is my belief that perhaps the strongest pillar in all
of that was Nancy Leonard. And without Nancy Leonard and
her vision for the Pacers, her vision for being able
to cement them within the NBA coming from the ABA,
I don't know that you get expansion of the Convention
Center and the building of the Hoosier Dome and eventually
an NFL franchise and all of the things that we
(00:43):
now enjoy. And it is a sad day, but the
day that we celebrate Nancy Leonard here in Indianapolis, and
joining me now on the program he is the president
of basketball Operations for the Indiana Pacers. Kevin Pritchard joining us,
Kevin on what I know is again a sad day,
but at the same time a celebratory day. I appreciate
your time in being able to reflect on Nancy Leonard.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Well glad to be on Jake, and congratulations to you
and your success. And you know, coming from Indianapolis and
growing up in Lawrence and Noblesville, I remember going to
a fifth grade basketball camp with the Pacers and meeting
Nancy and Slick at that time, and they were just
(01:29):
they were bigger than life. And you know, if you
met him, you'd think that you were their best friends.
And you know, throughout my tenure, I've been very blessed
to work with Donnie Walsh and Larry Bird and like
the foundational piece that they're about is people first. And
(01:51):
you know, I'm getting a little sad talking about it
because it's such a blow to not just the Pacers organization,
but what the Leonard's and specifically Nancy has done for
this community. It can't be measured, you just, uh statistically,
(02:14):
can you hear me?
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Yeah? Sorry about that, Go ahead, Kevin.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
She just she just was a pillar of this community.
And the one thing you knew about Nancy is there's
nothing more. And she didn't have any more pride than
the Pacers, and it was because she was the original.
She was the o g general manager and you know,
we hired Kelly Cross Golf as one of the you know,
(02:40):
top females in the business a few years ago to
be an executive for the Pacers. But the original was Nancy.
And uh, it's a really, really sad day. I'm proud
on one thing, and that is, you know, she came
to some playoff games this year and I would see
(03:02):
her after a big home win and it just you
could tell there was just this amount of pride that
can't be described in words. And I wish we could
have won a championship, because today I could have said
that she would have won a championship, you know, another
championship for the organization. So it's a tough loss. It's
(03:25):
a really tough loss.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
You know, Kevin, I was thinking about this in life
in general, and no matter what realm or relationship you
have with people, oftentimes you know you look back, whether
it be they they're passing, or you know, you go
to another job, whatever it may be, there are always
times where you look back and you think I should
have said this, or I wish I'd done that. You know,
that kind of a thing for you personally and for
(03:50):
the organization. What is the element of pride or can
you speak to it? In knowing that you are right.
I mean, it was a half away from a title,
I get that, But yet it was such an incredible
run of joy in Euphoria and this town that cemented
again the relationship between this town and that organization and
(04:10):
professional basketball in the Indiana Pacers and Nancy Leonard being
able to hug Myles Turner, to hug Tyre's Halliburton, to
soak in and see the fruits of her labor before
her almost feels like it was this town's way of
saying thank you, job well done. What does it mean
for you to know that you were somebody who helped
facilitate that and be able to have her enjoy that.
Speaker 2 (04:35):
Well, I can tell you this that I do remember
hugging her after some playoff games, and you know, you see,
you can just you know, you can see when somebody's
all in right, Like there's people that are fans, are
people that come to the games. But she was the
queen of the Pacers, and you know, you always, you
(05:01):
always felt their presence, no matter whether she was at
the game or not. She would always walk by the
management room and say hello. And you know I remember
many times seeing her, you know, throughout the community at
a golf event or or you know, any any out
to dinner and I was keavy, you know, I wasn't
(05:24):
you know, mister Pritchard or anything like that. I was
heavy to her. And you know, they had a great
feel of making you feel like you were part of
their family. And I think I think that trickles down
today to the Pacers. And you know, again, I'm not
sure you could measure that. That's immeasurable in terms of
(05:46):
influence and love and caring. And it wasn't a team,
it wasn't an organization. It was a family to her.
And you know, as I'm reflecting back, I hope and
ways that I can do that and make people around
us and in the organization and our fan base know that, yeah,
(06:07):
we want to win as much, but when we do
this together, we win together and we lose together. And
I think that's what I felt, because during tough times
she was the same way as she was during a
championship run. So I think that's that's the one thing
that I will remember about her, is no matter what,
I was part of her.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Family, Kevin. When you look back, Kevin Pritchard is our
guest from the Pacers we're remembering Nancy Leonard today. The
partnership I mean, obviously, as I've talked about with others
today goes without saying the incredible bond of love between
Nancy and Slick Leonard. And you know you could see
that immediately. But also, you know, going back to the
telethon the partnership that the two of them had, and
(06:51):
her ability, her business acumen, her vision for the franchise,
all of those things. Did you witness firsthand or can
you illuminate us on something you might have seen in
terms of the influence on a day to day that
she had on Slick Leonard?
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Well, I think you know, how do I say this politely?
Flick had a lot of passion, and sometimes when you
have that passion, sometimes you need to have someone right
next to your side saying it's going to be okay,
We're going to figure this out. And the other thing
I would tell you about Nancy is, you know, I
(07:31):
just there was no way she was going to accept no.
I mean, she she had a way of, you know,
being influential in a very positive way. But the last
thing I ever felt like I could do is say
no to her, and she did it in a way
that was her own way, with her own words and
her own feel and her own touch, and that's a
(07:54):
special touch. But her and Slick were you know, I
don't know if you could talk about Slick without talking
about Nancy. It's just they were the Leonards. They were
the king and Queen of the Pacers, and you know
that's that's immeasurable.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Again, had you not grown up here, Kevin and been
around at what you did, I mean obviously as you
mentioned at the outset, but if you had come here
from an organization where you didn't have ties to Indiana
other than taking the job here, would you have immediately
known of the impact of the Leonards. Was it the
kind of thing that's introduced to people when they come
(08:30):
here or do you just kind of see it from
the immediacy?
Speaker 2 (08:35):
No, I think you know, any any official events, whether
it's a banquet or a meeting, or you know where
they were involved, you knew the Leonards like you know,
I lived here until I was twelve or thirteen, and
then I moved away and then I came back and
immediately the first thing I do is, you know, communicate
(08:58):
with the Leonards and touch base with those would both
slick in Nancy, but I always just felt like they
were my family, and they may be part of the
family whether I was, you know, five thousand miles away
or a mile away. They just they embodied what the
Pacers are today and what they were back then. And
(09:22):
I remember specifically the telethon, and you know, I was
a really young boy when that happened, but you know,
I grew up knowing who the Pacers were, who was
the face of the franchise for many years and still are.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
You know, Chris texted in a listener Kevin and pointed
this out. I thought it was a fabulous idea. If
Nancy Leonard's name goes up in the rafters, which you know, Tyre's.
Haliburton even mentioned that he'd love to see it. I
realized that that's above both of us for that matter,
but in terms of those decisions. But each person that's
in the rafters, excluding Melsa I'm and Jim Morris, you know,
(10:02):
there's a number attached to them in some way, and
Slicks case, it's the number of career wins. I think
it should say Nancy Leonard eighty twenty eight because that's
the number of season tickets that were needed from the telethon,
and that's the number. She was so joyous in being
able to announce that essentially, quote unquote saved the Pacers. Now,
I give that a thumbs up, idea your thoughts.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
I completely agree thumbs up, And I wasn't aware of
that exact number, but god, that back then. You know,
it seems like a low number today, but when you
were growing up, that was monumental and just saved the Pacers.
And like you said earlier heard in the segment, you know,
(10:43):
the Pacers led to the Convention Center and the Colts
and then you know it just it's snowballed into this
incredible sports town. And whether you go anywhere in the
United States, the first thing people say, well, Indianapolis is
an incredible sportstown. And I think we all from Indiana,
(11:04):
we take a lot of you know, I remember back
when the NCAA tournament was going to be canceled and
Indianapolis popped up and said, hey, we will host all
these basketball games for the NCAA tournament. And then everybody
was like, holy cow, what an incredible job Indianapolis did.
And you think about that, that doesn't happen if the
Pacers aren't here, and if that, if the Pacers are here,
(11:27):
and again how that transcended into other things, There'd be
no way the NCAAA is here. There'd be no way
that tournament could have gotten played in Indianapolis. So it
was a snowball effect, and I think it still grows.
And for me, as a steward of a team in
this town, alls we want to do is keep it
(11:49):
going and keep it Indianapolis great, an amazing place where
sports not only as important, it's part of our culture.
So I hope in some way that we can be
good stewards of that helmet that she created.
Speaker 1 (12:08):
Lastly, Kevin, when it comes to Nancy Leonard, I'm curious
of this when you come in and you know you're
in that position and you are the president of basketball
operations and you have a woman sitting there near you
at the games that was one of the original, the
original as you mentioned, you know, pioneer executives of the franchise.
(12:32):
Did she carry with her a confidence or exude any
sort of a belief of her knowing her own standing
or was there an elegance about it where you just
kind of knew it and she didn't have to say it.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Oh, I think that's a difficult question because she had
an amazing elegance. I just I just think that the
Lennard's presence was always felt. And you know, you couldn't
remove the Pacers and the Leonards. It just it goes
(13:09):
in the same sentence. It's attached and it's it's meaningful.
But when when when I would hug her, it wasn't like, oh, hi,
you know, a little side hugged. When you hugged Flick
and Nancy, it was an embrace and it was meaningful.
And they just had a way of touching everybody, you know,
(13:34):
like again calling me Kevy, and you know they did
that with a lot of people. But for some reason,
it just made you feel like you were home. And
that's irreplaceable. You don't feel the fill those shoes.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Ever, Kevin. Obviously you know on this program the season
is getting ready to get underway. There was a transaction
that took place yesterday that was announced in adding a
point guard in Monti Morris. There are a lot of
things in that aspect. I could ask you about it.
Probably in the eyes of many would be remissive me
to not do so. However, when I asked you to
(14:10):
come on the program today, it was under the guise
of being able to talk about and reflect upon and
celebrate the life of Nancy Leonard, and I think in
the integrity of that, I keep it to that, and
certainly would welcome it back on another time from a
basketball standpoint, but I appreciate the perspectives today.
Speaker 2 (14:28):
Yep, glad to do it and keep up the great work.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Jay, appreciate it. Kevin Pritcher joining us, the president of
basketball Operations for the Indiana Pacers, as we celebrate today
the life of Nancy Leonard at the age of ninety
three years old.
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